London To Bolton
by multifandomer
Summary: Going from London to Bolton in a car is bad enough, but try being in a car with someone you don't exactly get along with. Dougie had to do just that. Join him on his adventure from London to Bolton with Erika. Looks like it's going to be a long journey.


**Ok, so this is the first one shot I have ever done. It is also the first story I have done for McFly. I hope you like it :) xxx**

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><p>Today, we are going to Danny's Nan's house. Now, that might sound weird. He is staying there for a week and he didn't want to go alone. So his Nan kindly said that Danny could bring his friends. So me, Tom, Harry and Erika are all going with him for the week to stay. His mum has already gone. She left yesterday and has left money for us all to get a cab up there. It is a three and a half hour drive. The problem is that we have to get two cabs up there because of all our stuff. We are trying to decide who is going in which cab.<p>

"Who is going in what cab then?" Harry asked.

"Well, we have to have two in one cab and three in the other; we don't want someone getting lonely, do we?" Tom said.

"I don't know, I'm sure Dougie would like to go on his own and have a nice talk with the cab driver, or if he gets really bored, the suitcases and bags." Erika said, smiling sarcastically at me.

"I'm sure Dougie would like to go on his own and have a nice talk with the…No." I mimicked. As you can probably tell, me and Erika don't exactly get on. And now you probably want to know why. Well, if you don't, I'm going to tell you anyway. Let me take you back to when we first met. We were in year 3. I had just moved from Corringham to London with my mum and sister. I was just starting my new school.

_ I walked through the gates of my new school. It was 8:45. I had 15 minutes until school started. There were a few kids playing in the playground. I went and sat down on one of the benches. My mum was dropping my little sister off with he reception teacher and she told me to go on round. I was just waiting for my mum to come round as I didn't know anyone. I was in a little world of my own when all of a sudden I was knock out of it by something hitting the side of my head. It was a football. It bounced off my head and landed right next to me by the arm of the bench. _

"_I told you not to kick it hard." I heard a boy's voice say._

"_Well, you should be better at football then shouldn't you." This time, it was a girl. I turned my head to the side and saw to people standing there. Two more boys came running up beside them. _

"_Sorry." The first boy said. "My sister didn't mean to kick the ball at you."_

"_No, he just needs to learn to stop the ball." She said. He glared at her then turned to me._

"_I'm Harry."_

"_I'm Danny." The boy next to the girl said, jumping and waving._

"_I'm Tom." The boy next to Harry said. Harry nudged the girl. She glared at him._

"_Sorry, I didn't know you guys were finished. I'm Erika." She said._

"_I'm Dougie." I said, throwing the ball back to Harry._

"_Are you new here?" Danny asked. Erika looked at him as if he was stupid._

"_No, he's been going here since last year." She said. Danny gave her a confused look. "Of course he has only just started here otherwise you wouldn't have introduced yourself."_

"_Oh yeah." He said._

"_Oh yeah." She mimicked._

"_You wanna come and play with us?" Harry asked me, ignoring what Erika and Danny were saying._

"_Um, sure." I said, getting up. _

_We walked back over to where they were before. There were two lunchboxes at each end of the area as goals. We started playing again. It was me, Harry and Tom against Erika Danny. I thought it was unfair but it turns out they are both quite good. A teacher walked out the door and stood there, watching all the children, making sure there was no trouble. Tom kicked the ball to me but Danny managed to get it before me. He kicked it to Erika. She kicked the ball and it went through the goal, but she kicked it to hard and it hit the teacher in the head. The teacher picked the ball up and walked over to us. Harry, Tom Erika and Danny ran I was the only to left._

"_Did you kick the ball?" she asked. I turned around and saw the others peeking out from behind a wall._

"_It wasn't me." I said, looking behind me again._

"_Who was it then?" She asked me._

"_Erika." I said a little scared, pointing behind me. They saw and quickly hid again. The teacher looked behind me. She looked back at me. _

"_Are you new here?" she asked._

"_Yes."_

"_What's your name?" She asked._

"_Dougie." _

"_Come with me." She said, walking towards the door. I looked back again. The boys looked sorry. Harry even mouthed 'sorry'. Erika wasn't there anymore. I wondered where she had gone._

"_Dougie." The teacher shouted from the door. I quickly turned around and ran towards her. _

_ When I got into class after talking to the teacher, who I was lucky to only get a warning from, I sat down in the seat the teacher gave me. I was on a table with Erika and Tom._

"_Why did you do that?" I asked both of them, slightly annoyed._

"_Sorry, but she isn't very nice. We didn't want to get in trouble." Tom said._

"_But Erika kicked it." I said looking at her._

"_Did you get in trouble?" She asked._

"_No, I got a warning." I said._

"_So what are you worrying about then?" She asked._

"_Because I could of." I said, crossing my arms._

"_But you didn't so stop complaining." She said, leaning back in her chair._

"_Erika, that's not very nice." Tom said._

"_Well, he's annoying me." She said. To be honest, she was annoying me._

"_Look, just get over it." She said._

Ever since that day, we haven't got along. Over the years, it got worse. She would play 'pranks' on me and I would do something back. She has covered me in blue paint before because I got her back on a prank she played on me. I was asleep on the sofa and she poured a cup of water over me. So I dropped a few water balloons out the window upstairs as she walked past. So she got a bucket of blue paint from the garage and chucked it at me as I walked past. She was grounded for a week but she thought it was worth it. She has also used me as a paint ball target and a football goal. She can be nice, but only when she wants something.

Anyway, back to our dilemma. We are trying to work out who is going in what cab, in case you had forgotten.

"What time are they getting here?" Danny asked.

"About 3 minutes. But there are coming at different times. The second one will be here in about 10." Tom said.

"Well, if we put some of the bags in the first one and the rest in the second, three people can go in the first and the other two can go in the second one." Harry said. Just then, there was the beep of a horn outside. We looked out the window to see a cab out there.

"Who's going in it then?" I said as we all got up to put the bags in it. Erika just watched from the door as me and Danny put two of suitcases in the cab, one of which was hers, the other being mine.

"Who is actually ready to go?" Tom asked.

"I am." Danny said.

"Me too." Harry said.

"So am I. So if us three go in this one and you two go in the other one." He said pointing at me and Erika.

"No way. I'm not going with him." She said. The driver beeped the horn again.

"Look, he's getting inpatient. Just do it Erika. Don't kill each other on the way. Come on guys." Harry said. He kissed Erika on the cheek, which she wiped off, patted me on the back and then ran in to cab. The other two hugged me and Erika saying they would see us there and also got in. the cab drove off. Erika walked to the kitchen. Nothing about going in the cab with me. I followed her. "You're not going to say anything?" I asked her. She didn't answer. She went to the cutlery draw and opened it, pulling out a big knife.

"Whoa, what are you doing with that?" I asked, backing away slightly.

"If you annoy me…" she moved her finger across her throat. I gulped. "I'm joking you idiot." She said, putting it back. I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding.

"You think I'm thrilled about this either?" I rhetorically asked.

"If you talk to me, I will punch you." She said, walking past me, barging me a bit. She got her shoes and put them on. She walked back to the kitchen and opened one of the cupboards. She pulled out about 8 packets of crisps and put them on the counter. She walked back out the room. By this time, I had sat down at the table. She walked back in with a shoulder bag. She put it on and then stuffed the crisps inside. She walked over to the fridge and got out 3 bottles of Diet Coke and also put them in, along with a 4 pack of Wispa chocolate bars. She walked over to the fruit bowl and got two apples.

"You do know its only like, 3 and a half hours right?" I said, looking at the back, and then at her again.

"Yes." She said. And with that, she walked out again. Another horn sounded, signalling that the cab was outside.

"Erika, get your butt down here now." I shouted up the stairs. I was met with a pen being thrown at my head.

"Ow. Do you mind?" I said as I saw her walking down the stairs.

"If I did, do you think I would have done it." she questioned. I held the pen out to her and she took it, blowing it before putting it in her bag.

"Just hurry up I said grabbing her arm and pulling her down the last of the stairs and out the door. She pulled her arm away and looked at it like it was infected.

"Why? Did you have to touch me?" She asked.

"Erika, just walk." I said to her, pushing her towards the cab.

"What did I say? Stop touching me." She said, getting in. I got in after her. I was sitting behind the passenger seat and she was behind the driver. The driver already knew where to go. Erika pulled her iPod out of her bag and put the earphones in her ears. She turned it up full blast. It was a good thing I liked the song that was on. It was All The Small Things by Blink-182. We actually have the same sort of music taste. We are quite similar, but we don't get along. Otherwise we could be quite good friends. Just like she is with Danny. They don't have the same sort of style but they get along really well. He like Bruce Springsteen, John Mayor and The Who whereas, she like Blink-182 and My Chemical Romance and Green Day. She also likes a bit of rap, but I don't really listen to that.

We had been in the cab for about an hour now. My phone had just died and I had no iPod to listen to as I left it in my suitcase, which is in the other cab. Why do we have their bags and they have ours? That doesn't even make sense. It must have been Danny's idea. I can still hear Erika's music. She is listening to rap. Nicki Minaj, I think.

"Can I help you?" She asked me, taking her earphones out. I didn't even realise I was staring.

"Uh…I um…No." I said and turned away to look out the window so she wouldn't she the blush that I knew would be creeping on to my face.

"Ok then." I heard her say. She put her earphones back in and looked out of her window. I turned back to look at her. I never realised how attractive she really was. Probably because she is always annoying me so I don't really have time to. I guess I have always kind of had a crush on her. I just never really realised it. But then I know for a fact that Danny used to have a crush on her so I'm not the only one. But his was when we were in year 5; we're going in to year 11 now. But she knew about it. She found out when we were in year 8 because Tom accidentally said it when him and Danny were having a mini argument. Danny refused to talk to Tom for a week. And of course it was a bit awkward between Danny and Erika. Danny wouldn't look or talk to her. and every time they were left alone together he went bright red. We all thought it was funny, even Erika, so we did it on purpose. Eventually though, after about a week and a half, Erika went round his house and refused to leave until they were talking again. Clearly she succeeded. She was there for about two hours and they sat in silence for most of that. Sometimes, she does bring it up to joke around and he goes red, but laughs along anyway.

Two and a half hours. We have been in the car for two and a half hours and I am so bored, and I have been for an hour and a half. The cab driver just grunts and occasionally swears at other drivers and Erika is still listening to her music. I don't even like the song that's on at the moment. I think she did it on purpose. I think she has a playlist on there called 'Songs Dougie Hates' because for the past 15 minutes I haven't liked a single one. We were on a deserted road. I'm not quite sure why though. We are supposed to be on motorways and roads like that. There are no cars and it is getting quite dark because of the grey clouds above. Erika has her eyes closed but I know she isn't sleeping because she is quietly singing along. She is quite good. I would know because she usually doesn't sing in front of people, but I don't think she knows she is doing it. I look around and I am sure we're not supposed to be here. I tapped Erika and she opens her eyes and takes her earphones out.

"Didn't I tell you not to talk to me?" She asked. I ignore her.

"We aren't supposed to be here." I whispered, not wanting the cab driver to hear me. She looked out her window and realised too.

"Um, excuse me." Erika said to the cab driver. He grunts in acknowledgement. "Are we supposed to be down this road?" She asked. He looks around as if he hasn't been paying attention and in the mirror I can see he realises we shouldn't.

"I think I've taken a wrong turn." He said.

"You only think?" Erika asks. Just then, we start slowing down. We come to a complete stop.

"Why are we stopping?" I asked. The driver looks at something near the steering wheel and then looks at us in the mirror.

"We've run out of petrol." He said.

"WHAT?" Me and Erika shouted at the same time.

"It's ok, I'll just call someone to come and get us." He said, pulling out his phone. "Ok, I have no signal." He said.

"Of course you don't, we're in the middle of nowhere." Erika said. The driver opened the door.

"I'll be back. I'm going to try and get signal." He closed the door and walked back the way we came.

"This is great." Erika said sarcastically.

"Yep." I said sarcastically.

An hour later and we were still sitting there. We had been in silence. Erika wasn't even listening to her iPod anymore. She was staring out the front window. She opened her bag and pulled a packet of crisps out. She threw them at me.

"What was that for?" I asked her.

"Fine, I'll take them back then." she said, going to reach for them. I pulled them back. I looked at the front. They were my favourite flavour. Cheese and Onion.

"How did you know I like these?" I asked, slightly confused.

"I've known you for 7 years. I think I would know by now." She said, opening her own pack. We ate in silence. After about 20 minutes of more silence I couldn't take it anymore.

"So…" I trailed off.

"What?" she asked.

"Why do you hate me?" I don't know why I said it. It just came out. She looked a little shocked so I moved back a little. What came out of her mouth next shocked me though.

"I don't hate you."

"You don't?" I asked, not believing her.

"I don't particularly like you, but I don't hate you." There we go. I knew it was too good to be true.

"And there was me thinking you were being nice." I said. She smiled sarcastically at me and then turned to the front window again. More silence.

"The others aren't even worried or they would have called." I said.

"There's no reception, mong." She said, turning to me.

"Oh yeah. You could always check your phone, you know."

"Fine." She pulled her phone out.

"Well?" I asked.

"It's dead." She said, throwing it back in her bag. "What about yours?"

"It died about two and a half hours ago." I said.

"Great. And I don't think the cab driver is coming back anytime soon, if at all." He had been gone a long time.

"Great." Cue the awkward silence. "You never did answer my question." I said to her.

"What was that?" she asked. I rolled my eyes.

"Why do you hate me?"

"I said I –"

"Don't hate me, why don't you like me then?" I cut her off. She shrugged.

"You annoy me." She said.

"Well, you annoy me but I don't act like you do. You could at least try to get along with me." I pointed out.

"And this is exactly why. Stop annoying me."

"How am I annoying you?" I asked, my voice getting higher because I was annoyed.

"You're talking." She said.

"So are you." I pointed out.

"Your point?" She asked.

"Stop talking." I said.

"Stop breathing." She shouted. She then got out he car, slamming the door. I leant back in my chair. Did I really annoy her that much?

It had been about 15 minutes since she got out the car. I could see spots of rain on the window. I didn't see Erika walk away so she must still be out there. The rain was getting heavier and Erika was only wearing a t-shirt. I reached into the boot and opened the first suitcase I saw. It was Danny's. I pulled out one of his hoodies. I already had one on. I put my hood up and then got out the car. I walked round and found Erika sitting on the floor, leaning against her door. I walked over to her. I held the hoodies out for her, she looked up.

"Take it. It's Danny's, not mine, in case you thought it was diseased." I said. She smiled and took it. "Did I, Dougie Poynter, just make Erika Judd laugh?" I asked jokingly.

"Shut up." She said, smiling. She put the hoodie on and did it up and pulled the hood up. "Thanks." She said awkwardly.

"And saying thank you? Whoa, I'm on a roll." She laughed. Not a sarcastic laugh but a proper laugh. I sat down next to her. "And laughing. Wow. Are you ill?" I asked her, putting my hand on her forehead. She laughed and swatted my hand away.

"You tell no-one." She said jokingly, pointing her finger at me.

"No-one would believe me anyway."

"True." She agreed.

The wind was cold, and so was the rain. I saw Erika shiver out the corner of my eye.

"Are you cold?" Stupid question really.

"No." She lied.

"I've known you for 7 years, I think I know when you're lying." I said, repeating what she had said earlier. I moved closer to her and awkwardly put my arm around her shoulder. She stiffened up.

"I'm not going to hurt you, you know?" I said to her. she relaxed, but only slightly. She was soaked, like me, and I could feel her shivering. Awkward silence again. We get these a lot. We aren't close so when we are in this position, it's awkward. I felt Erika relax a bit more.

"Why don't we get back in the car." I suggested. Erika didn't say anything and just got up. I went to open the door but I couldn't. it was locked. "Um, it's locked." I said, turning to her.

"What?" She asked, shivering. Her lips were turning blue by now.

"Sorry. You're lips are blue." I said to her.

"I'm cold, what do you expect." She said, raising her voice slightly. Back to our old ways again. I started looking around for a big rock. "What are you doing?" She said.

"Looking for a big rock."

"Why?" She asked.

"To smash the window with." She started looking too.

"Will this do?" She asked, holding up what looked like a brick.

"Definitely." She threw the rock at the front passenger window. It smashed. I went and unlocked the door. We both got in and sat in the seats we were in while we were driving. I could see she was still shivering. I moved closer again. This time, she didn't stiffen when I put my arm around her. I think she relaxed even more. These are the times I like between us. When we aren't fighting, but getting along, even if we aren't talking.

"So, why don't you like me then?" She asked me suddenly.

"I never said I didn't like you." I pointed out.

"But, you act like it." She said, looking at me.

"It's called payback. You do something to me so I do something back." I said to her.

"What like when I poured water on you." She laughed.

"Yeah, and I threw water balloons at you." I said, laughing too.

"And then I threw paint over you." She laughed harder.

"That wasn't funny." I pouted.

"I thought you looked hilarious as a smurf." She smiled.

"Yeah, wonderful." I said sarcastically. There was another silence, but no uncomfortable this time. I decided to break the silence again. "These are the times I like." I said to her.

"What do you mean?" she asked, confused.

"When we aren't arguing. Being nice to each other." I said.

"Eh, it's alright, I guess. But you are fun to annoy."

"Is that why you do it?" I asked.

"Do what?" She asked.

"Annoy me. Because it 'fun'" I said, putting air quotes around fun.

"No, sometimes you annoy me, so I do it back. It's called payback." She said, using my own words. I laughed.

"I see." She looked at me. I looked back at her. I leaned in and she did the same. Our lips connected. Fireworks. That is the only thing to say. I felt fireworks. I had never thought about kissing Erika before but it was nice. Her lips were soft. She pulled back first.

"Um, sorry." I said.

"Uh, yeah." She said back. Suddenly, confidence took over me.

"Actually, I'm not." With that, I kissed her again. At first she didn't respond and I thought that if I pulled back she would kill me, but then she started kissing back. I pulled back first this time.

As if right on cue, before she could say anything, the driver came back in another car. The person driving got out and got something out of the boot. Petrol. He filled the car up and the driver thanked him. He even gave him some money. He got back in the car and started it. he looked towards the passenger side to see if anything was coming and noticed the window.

"What happened to the window?" He asked, turning around.

"Um…well…" I started, not being able to come up with anything.

"That was me. We locked ourselves out and it was raining so we had to break the window to get back in." She said honestly. I sat there shocked.

"If the company asks, someone threw a rock through the window while we were driving." He said.

"Got it." Erika laughed. We started driving again. Erika got her iPod out again. She put one earphone in and looked at me. She held the other one up to me. I took it and put it in my ear. She turned it on and put on Don't Tell Me It's Over by Blink-182. My favourite song. She knows more about me than I thought. She then leant her head on my shoulder. I was a bit shocked. I saw the driver look at me in the mirror and wink. I smiled back and put my arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer. For the rest of the journey, this is how we stayed.

We were about 10 minutes away and we were still listening to the music. Turns out, she did have a playlist called 'Songs Dougie Hates'. She thought it would be fun to annoy me with them. I just laughed.

"Erika?" I said, breaking the silence yet again.

"Yeah?" She asked, lifting her head off my shoulder. It was cold now.

"Why did you kiss me back?" I asked shyly. She shrugged.

"I don't know. Why did you kiss me?" She asked back.

"'Cause I've been thinking…" I started.

"Haven't I told you not to do that?" She joked.

"Ha-ha. Anyway, I think I like you." I said quickly.

"You think? You either do or you don't." She said.

"Ok then, I do like you." I said.

"You do?" She asked shocked. As if I hadn't said it already.

"Yeah, and I was wondering if you want to go out some time?" I asked her hopefully. She just stared at me and I thought about jumping out the car while it was moving and hoping to be run over. After what seemed like ages she finally answered.

"You know what? I will." She said.

"Seriously?" I asked, shocked.

"Why you so shocked?" She asked.

"'Cause I didn't think you would say yes and I was thinking about jumping out this car to save the embarrassment."

"This is why I tell you not to think." She said jokingly.

"Again, ha-ha." We returned to the position we were in before, my arm around her shoulder and her head resting on mine.

5 minutes later we pulled up outside Danny's Nan's house. We got out the car.

"You should be opening this for me." Erika joked.

"I don't think so." I joked back. The driver got out and opened the boot, taking all the bags out. The other three boys ran out the house.

"What happened to you two, you were supposed to be here like and hour and a half ago." Danny said.

"That was my fault. We ran out of petrol on the way." The driver said.

"And the window?" Harry asked. Me, Erika and the driver all looked at each other,

"Someone threw a rock through the window." We all said together and laughed.

"Uh-huh, I see." Harry said, eyeing us funny. The three of them took their bags from the floor and walked into the house. Danny's mum came out of the house.

"Here you go" She said, handing the driver money.

"You know what…" He started. He took half the money and gave the rest back. "I ran out of petrol and made them wait, so I'll half the price of it."

"Are you sure?" she asked taking the money back.

"Don't question him, just run." Erika joked. We all laughed.

"I'm sure." He said, getting back in the car.

"Thanks." Me and Erika said together.

"Let's get you inside, you two looked soaked." Danny's mum said to us.

"We are." I replied. She walked in. I grabbed Erika's hand. She looked down at them and then at me and smiled. We walked inside. We walked into the living room.

"Hey, isn't that my hoodie?" Danny asked.

"Maybe." Erika said. No-one had realised we were holding hands yet, or so I thought. "You can have it back now." She let go of my hand and took the hoodie off and put it on Danny's head.

"It's soaked." He whined.

"Yep, that why you can have it back." She laughed.

"Thanks." He said sarcastically. She started walking into the kitchen and Danny followed her.

"How did you get soaked when you were in a car?" Tom asked, following them.

"Long story Tommo." She said, turning to me and winking. I smiled. She walked into the kitchen leaving me and Harry in the room.

"So, what was that all about?" He asked me, sitting down on one of the arm chairs.

"What was what about?" I asked innocently, sitting down on the sofa.

"Don't act like that. I saw you two holding hands and then wink she gave you. The other two maybe blind but I'm not." He said.

"Well, lets just say, it was a very eventful trip here. But to sum it up, the driver took a wrong turn, we ran out of petrol, we had an argument, she got out the car, it started to rain, I gave her Danny's hoodie, we got locked out the car, she smashed the window with a rock, I kissed her, the driver got petrol, I asked her out and then we arrived her." I said trying to remember everything that happened.

"You kissed her?" He asked shocked. I thought he was going to kill me now. "And you're still alive?" I laughed. "And when you asked her out, I'm taking it she said yes." He said, more of a statement than a question.

"Yep." I said proudly. He started clapping.

"Well done. I think you two might finally get along." He laughed. I laughed too. Tom came walking back in the living room. I could hear Danny laughing, but I'm not sure why. Although that was answered when Tom spoke.

"Well then…" she said, looking towards the kitchen. "Did you two argue at all on the way? Because if you did, obviously not enough. She just kicked me out the kitchen, _literally_, because I was annoying her." He said, rubbing his leg. Just then Danny came walking in too, rubbing the back of his head.

"She just whacked me round the head because my laugh was annoying her." Erika came walking in laughing, holding a cup with tea in it.

"It didn't hurt that much." She said to Danny.

"You didn't get hit did you." Danny said.

"No, but it was my hand." She pointed out. She took a sip of her drink.

"Where's mine?" I asked her.

"You know where the kettle is." She said. I walked over and took her out her hand and started drinking it. She then whacked me round the back of my head. She took it back. "Get your own." And then she walked to the sofa and sat down on it, in my seat. Danny and Tom looked at each other, shocked. I know why though. She didn't tip it over me when she got it back.

"Why aren't you two arguing?" Tom asked.

"Harry." She said, pointing at Danny and Tom, telling them to explain.

"How did you…?" He trailed off.

"As if he isn't obvious." She said, pointing at me. So Harry gave the description I gave. During that time, they didn't say a word, obviously intrigued, and I had made my way over to Erika and sat down next to her, putting my arm around her shoulder. when Harry had finished, they looked at both of us with their mouths hanging open.

"Close your mouths, bugs my nest in there." Erika said. They closed their mouths but hey were still shocked. They say down and soon, the conversation was flowing, everyone forgetting that me and Erika were sitting there closer than usual.

"So, when are we going on this date then?" I asked her, the others to busy with the conversation they were having.

"I don't know, you asked me." She said.

"So how about some time this week then?" I asked her.

"Well, I don't think we are going to be very busy this week, so sure." She replied. We then joined in with the rest of the conversation.

I have a feeling this week is going to be fun…

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading and I hope it was good. Let me know what you think <strong>

**Much love :) xxx**


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